The Eye of Death
by Godfather
Summary: Rouge is a homeless pickpocket with devastating powers. Gambit is the Thieve's Guild best operative, assigned to locate a priceless gem called the Eye of Death.Both find themselves caught up in a harrowing adventure together involving brutal crime lords,
1. Default Chapter

Nobody paid her any attention. To most people, the figure covered with the New  
  
York Giants jacket that was many sizes too big was just another homeless girl. They had  
  
seen the type before. Even if they could see her hair, brown except for a dash of white in  
  
the front, they would simply think it was a bad dye job or something.  
  
She didn't care though. Being a pickpocket, she liked it when people paid her no  
  
attention. It made it easier to steal their money.  
  
She walked forward on the sidewalk, her Mets cap pulled low over her face. Out  
  
of the corner of her eye, she saw a middle aged man in a nice suit talking into a cell  
  
phone. He was perfect.  
  
She increased her step moving rapidly. Timing was very important.  
  
"Hey, watch it," the man cried out when she bumped rather forcefully into him.  
  
"Sorry," she mumbled in a southern accent. The man shook his head and then  
  
returned to his phone conversation, unaware that he was now without a wallet.  
  
Rouge smiled inwardly before looking to see whose wallet to pinch next.  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
Remy LeBeu was new to New York, and he did not like it. It was too noisy, the  
  
restaurants sucked, and it was much too cold here.  
  
Remy had a mission though and he was the only operative in the Thieves Guild  
  
with the skill to pull this off.  
  
What was the mission?[The mission was] to locate a diamond called the Eye of  
  
Death. Remy had no idea why it was called that and he didn't much care. Sources had  
  
told him that somewhere in New York lay the Eye of Death diamond. It was worth over  
  
500,000 dollars he'd been told; and it didn't take a genius to figure out that that could  
  
turn into a lot of cash.  
  
??????He wore sunglasses, even though it was sunny outside which gave him his fair  
  
share of stares as he sat casually in one of the aforementioned bad restaurants. Remy  
  
LeBeau was a mutant with the ability to 'charge' any inorganic object with destructive  
  
explosive energy. His eyes which were fiery red on black were a side effect of his power  
  
and the sunglasses were needed to hide the dead giveaway of his being a mutant from the  
  
world.  
  
"Hello."  
  
Remy glanced up to see a beautiful dark haired woman in a trenchcoat sit down at  
  
his table. "Hello," he said back.  
  
"I have a package for you." His suspicions were confirmed at her use of the code  
  
phrase.  
  
"Where?" he asked his contact.  
  
"At my house," she told him, still staying in code. As she said this, she pulled out  
  
a pen and wrote down the real message on a napkin. QUEENS, the message said.  
  
Remy raised an eyebrow. "Interesting place, you sure its there?" Any passerby  
  
would have assumed he was talking about the imaginary package at her imaginary house.  
  
"Positive." She smiled, showing straight, white teeth. "You must hurry though,  
  
other people want the package too. Time is short."  
  
"Who else wants the package?" he inquired.  
  
"That's not important. All you need to know is that they want and they are getting  
  
close to finding it," she said.  
  
Remy would have asked her name but he knew that he would never see her again.  
  
He had the message though. The Eye was in Queens, New York.  
  
"One last question," he said as he got up. "How do you know its there?"  
  
"I don't. The Guild does and believe me, Mr. LeBeau, if they say its there it is  
  
there." After one more brilliant smile, she got up too and walked away. Remy knew that  
  
sometimes the Guild used methods like this to get information to its operatives, but to go  
  
through all this trouble just give him that simple message only reinforced the importance  
  
of finding the Eye.  
  
A waitress came to his table, asking him if he would like to order.  
  
"I'll take you're special," he said, "whatever it is."  
  
"Okay sir. What drink would you like?"  
  
"Diet Pepsi."  
  
The waitress smiled and then left to get the food. 


	2. Chapter 1

Raven Darkholmme was a very bad person. She was responsible for the deaths of  
  
dozens of dignitaries, senators, and other political figures as well as the terrorist attacks  
  
that killed ordinary citizens every day.  
  
Every night before she went to bed, she looked at the FBI's most wanted list and  
  
laughed; laughed until tears came rolling down her face. It tickled her pink at how  
  
clueless the Federal Bureau of Investigation really was. What was the FBI so clueless  
  
about? It was the simple fact that six of the top criminals they were after were in fact all  
  
one person. In fact, they had no idea what this person looked like or that this person even  
  
existed and this person, Raven Darkholmme, liked it that way.  
  
She was a mutant with dark blue skin, piercing yellow eyes, and bright red hair.  
  
Her power was the ability to morph into anyone, right down to their DNA. She was good  
  
too, which was why the government had no idea that all of these terrorists and crooks  
  
they were after were simply different morphs of Raven's. It was these abilities that had  
  
gained her leadership of the Brotherhood, a deadly crime ring in New York. Among her  
  
inner circle were the Acolytes, her mutant henchmen .  
  
Raven was looking for more mutants though, especially with the Eye of Death  
  
Diamond being such a big deal. According to her sources, it was right here in New York  
  
which meant that the more help you had, the better the chance of finding it or taking it  
  
away from whoever did find it.  
  
So here she was in New York, following covertly behind a girl with a way too big  
  
New York Giants jacket and a beaten up Mets cap. Raven would never have even given  
  
her a second glance were it not for the handy dandy MSD (Mutant Signature Detection)  
  
unit that she had recently purchased. When the unit had detected this girl, the readings  
  
that it displayed were incredible. Raven had only seen higher mutant power readings on  
  
Alpha mutants.  
  
For a brief moment, the Giants jacket disappeared in the bustling crowd and  
  
Raven inhaled sharply. Then it came right back into view and she let out the breath,  
  
vowing not to let that jacket, or rather the person wearing it, disappear out of sight again.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Rogue decided it was about time she went back to the little shelter she'd set up for  
  
herself deep in the alleys. She now had a collection of two wallets and what looked to be  
  
a very expensive watch. She leaned against a graffiti covered brick wall and opened the  
  
first wallet, a brown one with a picture of a cowboy boot pressed into the leather. There  
  
was a drivers license, a ten dollar bill, a couple of business cards, and a picture. Rogue  
  
took one look at it and then crumpled it up. "What a nasty man," she muttered before  
  
pocketing the ten dollar bill. She began to open the next wallet when all of the sudden, a  
  
dark figure stepped right in front of her.  
  
"Hey baby," he growled.  
  
Rogue almost choked on the smell of alcohol on his breath and his body odor  
  
didn't help much either.  
  
He put a hand on either side of her trapping her. "Mikey, Carl, look who I found  
  
all by her lonesome."  
  
Rogue, who had been pretty scared before was a lot more frightened now when  
  
two other men stepped out from the shadows.  
  
The one named Mikey grinned. "Hello." The way he said it made Rogue sure that  
  
he was being anything but polite.  
  
"Ah would appreciate it if you all would leave me alone now," she said while ever  
  
so slowly sliding her glove off of her right hand.  
  
"Leave you alone? Why would we do a think like that?" Carl asked, imitating her  
  
southern accent.  
  
Rogue didn't answer, instead she took the glove all the way off and tapped her  
  
index finger right on the forehead of the man who had her trapped against the wall,  
  
bracing herself for the flood of foreign memories and thoughts that was sure to come.  
  
"Aggggghhhhhh," the man screamed and fell back dropping to his knees. He  
  
wavered slightly in the kneeling position before collapsing fully to the ground.  
  
"Holy cow!" Mikey yelped at the sight of his unconscious friend. Carl reached  
  
into his pocket and pulled out a knife. He started towards her.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Raven had seen enough now. This was the perfect opportunity to gain this girl's  
  
trust. She morphed into human form and sprung forward.  
  
WHAM. First she chopped the knife out of Carl's hand with her right hand before  
  
delivering a vicious side kick to his left knee. He shrieked and fell to the ground.  
  
Mikey pulled out a gun and fired, missing Raven by mere inches. Raven ducked  
  
to the ground and did a sweep kick, knocking his feet out from under him.  
  
She flipped back into standing position and, after kicking his gun away, yanked  
  
Mikey to his feet and put him out with a well placed nerve block. Raven dropped his limp  
  
form and then turned back to the girl. "Are you all right?" she asked.  
  
The girl nodded. "Um, yeah, thanks."  
  
"No problem." Raven looked closely at her. "Say, how'd you do that thing?"  
  
"Ah- Ah don't know what you're talkin' about."  
  
"Oh, come now," Raven cajoled, leaning against the wall beside her, "what you  
  
did to that man who had you pinned up like that."  
  
"Lucky blow Ah guess."  
  
"That was no blow," Raven said. "You just touched him and poof, he's out."  
  
"Ah really need to be goin' now," Rogue said nervously.  
  
"You are mutant, child." Raven felt she had no choice but to come right out and  
  
confront her with it.  
  
"No, Ah'm not." Rogue was scared now. Was this some kind of government  
  
agent hunting down mutants?  
  
"Yes, you are," Raven responded. "And you don't have to hide it from me  
  
because, you see, I am a mutant too. Watch." Raven smiled and then morphed into an  
  
exact image of Rogue.  
  
"Oh mah God," Rogue murmured.  
  
Raven morphed back into her normal human form. "My name is Raven  
  
Darkholmme," she said, offering her hand.  
  
After a moment's hesitation, Rogue took Raven's outstretched hand and shook it.  
  
"Mah name is Rogue."  
  
  
  
  
  
AN/ Raven Darkholmme is Mystique, okay. I'm just using her real name in the AU. Don't forget to review, reviews make me write faster.  
  
-Godfather 


	3. Chapter 3

It was exactly 8:15 when Rogue woke up the next morning. The first thing she noticed was that she was actually in a bed, not waking up on the ground as she had for years and years. She was in a building instead of a deserted alley somewhere. No complaint there.

She rubbed her eyes wiping the last of sleep out of her eyes. As usual, she'd had nightmares. The same ones she always had; nightmares about the different people she had absorbed. Ever since her powers bloomed at the tender age of 11, she'd had memories and thoughts that she didn't even remember. This time, the dreams were from the thug that she had touched the previous day. He seemed to have an outstanding phobia of jail.

"Good morning." Rogue looked up to see Mystique leaning into the doorway of her room. Her room. the feeling of just bein able to say that made Rogue smile almost involuntarily.

"Hello Raven," she said, sitting up. She looked around at the posters on the blue walls, the carpeted floor, the television, the closet. "Thank you," she added.

"Excuse me."

Rogue sighed. "Thank you for giving me a place to sleep and being so kind to me."

"My pleasure. Breakfast is downstairs in the kitchen. Do you want to join us?"

"Us?" Rogue asked.

Raven slapped herself on the forehead. "That's right, I forgot to introduce you to the Acolytes. Come with me and you can meet them."

Rogue stepped out of bed, her street clothes that she had slept in feeling very stiff.

She followed Raven down the staircase and into the kitchen. Pouring some milk was a skinny kid with silver hair. At the table was a very fat guy eating hoagies, an intense looking guy with long brown hair, and a short guy with green hair and who was trying to catch a fly with his extremely elongated tongue.

Raven cleared her throat, granting her and Rogue an instant audience. "Todd, Pietro, Freddy, Lance..." she began, "this is Rogue, a possible future Acolyte."

Todd frowned. "What? Since when do the Acolytes let chicks in?"

Mystique sent him a glare. "I am a woman, Toad, or have you forgotten. Rogue is a perfectly capable mutant."

"What can you do, Rogue?" asked Lance. 

Rogue looked questioningly at Raven who smiled. 

"Lance," Raven commanded, "come here and shake Rogue's hand."

Lance stood up and started forward, making Rogue acutely aware that she did not have her gloves on.

"Go on Rogue It'll teach him a lesson."

Rogue outstretched her hand...and Lance took it.

Nothing happened.

"OK, what do I do now?" Lance asked in confusion. He wasn't the only one who was confused. Raven and Rogue were wondering why he hadn't keeled over unconscious. "Well?" Lance asked.

"I don't know," Rogue muttered. "Usually when I touch somebody, they-"

"Aggghh," Lanced yelled, cutting her off. He began to shudder and then keeled over, falling to his knees. He collapsed completely seconds later.

"Ah, I see," Raven was saying. "A delayed effect."

Meanwhile, the other Acolytes were speechless.

"I believe tht this 'chick,'" Raven addressed, "is more than capable, as Lance here will testify...when he wakes up that is."

"I've also got his powers," Rogue added. She stretched her hand to the right and then tightened it with the instinctive power that she had stolen from Lance.

The ground began to shake.

"Hey, that's Lance's power," Freddy exclaimed. "Way cool. Ya touch him and then 'poof' he's sleepin' like a baby and you can do the whole earthquake thing. You have to join."

Rogue made the mini-earthquake she had created cease and took a deep breath. "Join what? I mean, you guys, especially you Raven have been real nice to me and you've hinted off that I might be joining the Acolytes, but I don't know what it is you do. Do you work for the government? Are you like a Mutants Union? I don't get it."

Raven sighed and then picked Lance's limp form off of the ground, dropping him unceremoniously onto a couch in the adjoining room. When she returned, she ran a hand through the short, brown hair that was a part of her human morph. "Rogue, the Acolytes are a part of an...organization run by myself called the Brotherhood."

"Is it like a corporation?" Rogue asked.

"Yes." It wasn't exactly the truth but if Raven had told this impressionable girl that the Brotherhood was one of the biggest crime rings in the country; that she was pesonally behind most of the terrorism, assasination, theft, bribery, espionage, and other cime that plagued the US; Rogue would have been out of there in a heartbeat. Besides, Raven wasn't exactly known for her unwavering honesty.

"And you want me to join, right?" Rogue continued.

"Of course we do," Raven said, mustering as much sincerity as possible. "We can give a better life here."

"Yeah," Todd piped up.

Rogue hesitated for a moment. "OK," she said finally. "I'm in."

***

"I'm starting to notice a trend here," Remy was saying as he reported back to his superiors. "Every time I get a lead, its followed by dead bodies. This Eye of Death diamond is really living up to its name."

"Maybe some of the other interested parties are killing for it," Jean-Marc, the Thieves Guild operative he was reporting to suggested over the phone.

"No," Remy said into the mouthpiece. "These corpses I'm coming across are not shot or stabbed or anything. "They're missing hair, they have skin burns, and are blistered all over."

"Are they bleeding?"

"Well, I'm not looking at one of the bodies right now. I'm in a restaurant but yeah, one of 'em was bleeding from the nose and mouth. There were no indications that she had been assaulted though. Just blood."

Jean-Marc paused. "If I didn't know better Remy, I'd say that these people died from radiation poisoning."

"Radiation poisoning?! Jean Marc, that is crazy. Why would there be radiation in Queens?"

"I don't know, but the symptoms match. It looks like we have a much bigger problem mon ami."

"Yeah." Remy picked up a french fry and twirled it absentmindedly between his fingers. "But how is it connected with the Eye of Death?"

AN/ In case you haven't heard, Reviews make me write faster and they help me to know how to make future chapters better. Plz review./


	4. Chapter 4

In the dictionary, the word 'mutant' is defined as relating to or produced by a mutation. The word mutation is defined as a relatively permanent change in hereditary material involving either a physical change in chromosome relations or a biochemical change in the codons that make up genes. Sounds pretty complicated to most people. In fact, if one were to ask a regular person on the street, they would say that they had never seen a mutant before in their life.  
  
  
  
Logan was one of these mutants. His power was highly accelerated cellular regeneration that he just called his 'healing factor'. It allowed him to take a tremendous amount of punishment since his body could just keep repairing itself. Other than that, Logan possessed super enhanced of smell, hearing, and sight as well as three razor sharp adamantium claws on each hand that could pop out with a simple muscle command. It was these claws that had earned Logan the title Wolverine among his fellow Weapon X agents.  
  
Right now, Logan was looking at the official autopsies of the bodies he'd discovered and shaking his head. He was holding three folders, one for each of the radiation victims found so far. He flipped through each one. For the most part, all of the victims showed the same symptoms, nerve damage having killed them within a few hours.  
  
"Saddening, isn't it?" Logan's Irish partner Sean Cassidy said from behind him. Sean was a mutant also with a scream that could literally split mountains as his power.  
  
"Yeah." Logan frowned when something in one of the photos caught his eye. "You see that?" he asked Sean.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Logan popped a claw and pointed it at a small, rectangular object laying on the ground next to the victim's body. "Playing card," he growled. "It's the only thing out of place in the entire apartment."  
  
"Yer right, laddie," Sean said. "Somebody should check it out."  
  
"I'll see about it." Logan turned to his red-haired colleague. "You have somethin' for me?"  
  
"As a matter o' fact, I do." Sean handed Logan a disk. On there is the connection I found between the three radiation victims. Ye might want t' check it out."  
  
"Yeah. Thanks Irish." Logan palmed the disk, and then slid into his computer console.  
  
  
  
After having been with Brotherhood for 2 weeks now, Rogue finally thought she was fitting. Everyone was nice to her (with the exception of Lance who was still a little ticked off at her for knocking him out) and Raven had been teaching her how to better control her powers as well as a few martial arts techniques. Sometimes, Raven and the other members would leave her at the house to go 'take care of some business', which was puzzling but not very serious.  
  
Rogue resumed her workout, delivering a series of punches and kicks to a training dummy in the gym. After a few minutes, she went to the middle of the large room and began to practice her flips. Back flips were very easy for her as were front flips. It was the flips with no hands that gave her trouble so she practiced that.  
  
"You might want to put a little more energy into that right foot," said Raven from behind her. Rogue whirled around.  
  
"Raven? I thought you wouldn't be back for another 5 minutes."  
  
"I finished early." Raven walked over. "Listen, I have to talk to you about something."  
  
"Sure. What is it?"  
  
The metamorph sighed. "Tell you what. Why don't you change and meet me in the computer room."  
  
"Um, sure." Rogue paused. "Is it something bad?" she asked.  
  
"You'll see."  
  
  
  
"Breaking News. In the last week, there have been three deaths due to radiation poisoning in the Queens area. Two of the victims were female, one male. The Police have not issued a statement yet which is causing some citizens concern."  
  
The screen switched to a middle aged Asian man in his front yard.  
  
"Yeah," he was saying, "of course I'm worried about radiation. I mean, who wouldn't be. We expect that the local police would inform us, ya know, tell us about somethin' like this." The man paused to take another smoke on his cigarette. After blowing out the smoke, he continued. My wife and two kids, they're scared. Real scared. And so am I."  
  
It was then that Remy turned the television off. On every station there was rumor and speculation about the mysterious radiation deaths. Remy didn't blame the police for keeping the whole thing under wraps.  
  
He felt homesick. It was like he was an animal out of its natural habitat. This whole place felt wrong.  
  
Jean-Marc had done a couple of background checks and the only common denominator between the three radiation victims was a woman named Carol Wong. They all knew her in one way or another so now, he figured the best way to get to the bottom of this was to find Carol Wong. It looked like he wouldn't be returning to the Thieves Guild for a while.  
  
  
  
"Do you know anything about this Carol Wong person?" Logan asked Sean after an intensive afternoon of research.  
  
"All I know is in the disk I gave ye. She has t' have somethin' to do with this."  
  
"I won't disagree with ya' Can we get an APB out on her? She's not at her house and no one has seen her for weeks."  
  
"Don't ye worry. A lead 'll come soon."  
  
Logan pushed away from the computer. "I hope so. In the meantime, lets you and me start lookin'"  
  
  
  
"Okay Raven, you can tell me what it was you wanted to tell me," Rogue said when she entered the computer room.  
  
"Yes, I guess I'd better." Raven sat down in the computer chair and opened a file. "I want you to take a look at this," she said.  
  
On the screen, a picture of a young man, maybe 19 or 20 appeared. He was wearing a long, floor length duster over a red shirt with a loose bandana and black jeans. He had nice, brown hair that fell down to his temple on the sides and wore sunglasses.  
  
"He's cute," Rogue blurted out before thinking, causing Raven to look sharply at her. Wrong answer.  
  
"Cute, he may be but he is also very dangerous. His name is Remy LeBeau and he is an operative for a Louisiana-based organization called the Thieves Guild. He is our enemy and right now, he is in New York."  
  
"Wait a minute," Rogue interjected. "How is he our enemy?"  
  
"He just is. Listen, I'm sure you've heard of something called the Eye of Death."  
  
"I heard Pietro mention it once."  
  
"Good. That is a very valuable diamond that was stolen from us by the Thieves Guild." Raven knew she could have made up a better lie but Rogue would probably believe it.  
  
"So why not call the police?"  
  
"The police have no power over these people. Rogue, you are a very powerful woman and I want you to commandeer the effort to find Remy."  
  
"You mean you want me to go look for this guy?"  
  
"Exactly. I want you to find him and bring him to me."  
  
Rogue paused. "OK," she said finally. She turned to leave with a puzzled look on her face.  
  
"Oh, and Rogue," Raven called out, "Don't believe anything he tells you."  
  
"Um, sure. I won't."  
  
Rogue walked away thinking about just how much her life had changed in the past few weeks. 


	5. Chapter 5

AN/ I know that not much really happens here but I had to establish the character of Carol Danvers (my version anyway) before I moved on. In case you don't remember, Carol Danvers is the person that Rogue gains her super- strength, invulnerability, and flight from in the comics- although I never did like Rogue with all of those. My version of Carol Danvers has only super strength and not phenomenal amounts of it at that./  
  
P.S. Remember, I like reviews so keep 'em comin' P.S.S. Next chap, expect a big fight between Carol and Remy that is only complicated by Rogue's arrival. Yeah, that's right, Rogue an Remy meet.  
  
  
  
  
  
The Brotherhood, the Thieves Guild, Weapon X, all 3 agencies had as a common factor the search for a diamond known as The Eye of Death. And it certainly seemed to be living up to its name because of the mysterious string of deaths I was connected to. What no one could have ever guessed was that the one person in possession of the diamond was a 23-year-old reporter named Carol Danvers who had just recently changed her name to Carol Wong. She knew why wherever it was the Eye of Death was, death was sure to follow. Technically, the fact that she had the Eye of Death made her one of the most wanted people alive. As she sat in the small booth at Starbucks, she palmed the diamond, not for the first time that day. It was shaped like an eye, mysterious and beautiful and it was probably pumping harmful levels of radiation even as she sat. There was no radiation like the kind the Eye of Death gave off to be found anywhere in the world. Carol had done he countless hours of research. She knew. Sometimes, the Eye of Death killed people in a matter of hours as it had with the first two victims, her mother and brother. It had taken days for the Eye to kill her cousin Janice. That was when she had been forced to face the truth about the exotic gem she'd discovered on a field assignment to Tabakistan (made up country) that was able o save her life. That's right. Carol Wong/Danvers was dying from a fatal disease she had contracted a few months earlier and instead of killing her, The Eye had no harmful effects and even began to reverse the process of the disease. As for dear Cousin Janice, she had survived longer than others for the same reason that Carol hadn't been affected negatively at all. The Eye of Death only affected normal homo sapiens, not mutants or those with superhuman powers. The more abnormality in your genes, the longer you survived after being in the deadly gem's range. If you were a mutant or had substantial superhuman abilities as was the case with Carol, you could consider yourself immune. Not that it made Carol feel any better that her selfish desire to keep her own life had cost others, three that were the press knew about and were close relative, their own lives. "Uh, excuse me ma'am but we're closing." The young custodian who had come to tell her was startled by the grief and anguish behind the blue eyes she turned his way. He quickly averted his eyes, sorry that he had intruded on such a private moment. He cleared his throat softly. "Oh, and there's a guy outside who would like to talk to you." Carol nodded, got up, and walked out of the Starbucks, her steps slow and deliberate. "Over here." Carol whirled around on the sidewalk and saw the silhouette of a man framed against the setting sun. "You wanted to talk to me?" Carol asked. "He nodded and Carol eyes widened when she saw his own. His eyes were red on black, burning with a mix of intensity and.roguishness maybe. He was a mutant, obviously. "You mind if we take a little stroll?" he asked, raising Carol's suspicions a once. Most men would never ask a woman to take a stroll with them in a less than ideal neighborhood at nighttime because they simply knew that any woman with an ounce of sense would turn him down. Carol knew she had nothing to worry about, being one of the most powerful superhumans in New York she could easily take care of herself. The fact that this guy was asking meant that maybe he knew that she knew she had nothing to worry about from him. Carol shook her head. 'Stop being so paranoid, she scolded herself. To the man, she said. "Well I don't even know who you are." He stepped out into a streetlight so she could see him clearly. He couldn't have been more than 19 or 20, she observed. "My name is Remy LeBeau Ms. Wong, or should I say Ms. Danvers. I'd like to talk to you about something called the Eye of Death. Ring a bell?" He began to walk down the sidewalk, motioning for her to follow him. Stunned, Carol did. 


	6. Chapter 6

Not for the first time that day, Rogue wondered what she was doing. It was getting dark now and still no sign of Remy, even after Pietro had had done a 5 minute scour of the city which with his speed was something.  
  
Absently, she touched her now short hair. Along with a haircut, she'd been given a green and yellow uniform plus a bomber jacket. It was comfortable, yet foreign all at the same time.  
  
"Anything else you can tell me about Remy LeBeau?" Rogue asked Pietro  
  
"Well, um.he's a heckuva fighter, loves cards, his codename is Gambit, and he's about 19 believe it or not."  
  
"You're kidding."  
  
"No, seriously. The organization he works for is really weird.  
  
"So this Remy guy stole your diamond."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
How the heck did he do it?" "The Brotherhood collects artifacts from all over the world in a separate base in New Jersey. I guess he just snuck in, somehow evaded security, and stole it." Pietro was glad that Mystique had given a specific story to tell Rogue in case she asked.  
  
Rogue nodded and absently ran her fingers through her hair again, an action which was fast becoming a habit.  
  
"Wait a minute. Raven says she found me with a device that picks up on mutant signatures. Why can't we use it to find Remy?"  
  
  
  
  
  
"So how much do you know?" Carol asked Remy as they strolled deeper and deeper into the city.  
  
"I know that your real name is Carol Danvers and that you changed it Carol Wong. I know that you have superpowers of some sort. I know that you haven't been to work in the past few days." Remy paused. "I know that you have the diamond. I know its killing people because somehow, its radioactive. And I know that that fact is probably tearing you up inside."  
  
"You're right," Carol acknowledged.  
  
"I thought so." They walked some more for a while before Carol broke the silence.  
  
"I've never heard of the Thieves Guild. Is that some sort of gang?"  
  
"Sort of. Its more like an organization. Nothing overtly illegal."  
  
"I suppose you're wondering why I don't just give the diamond up."  
  
"I suspect you have a reason."  
  
Carol sighed. "I am dying, and as long as I have the Eye of Death, this disease that's eating away at me is halted."  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
"But you're going to try to take it from me anyway, aren't you?" Carol asked.  
  
I don't have any choice."  
  
Carol sighed, here it was. She would have to fight to keep the diamond that was saving her life and taking others'. "I should warn you Remy, I am very powerful."  
  
Remy looked at her, a smile playing across his lips. "Doesn't matter." He laughed mirthlessly. "I want you to know that I'm sorry it had to come to this."  
  
"As am I." With those words, Carol threw the first punch, not holding back any of her super strength.  
  
Remy instinctively ducked and did a sweep kick, knocking Carol's feet out from under her in the dark, foreboding alley where they'd ended up.  
  
Carol fell but then flipped right back onto her feet, going into a fighting stance. She punched at him and instead of ducking, Remy used her momentum to hurl her with a judo throw at the graffiti-scarred side of an abandoned building. Carol smashed right through the wall, landing inside of the building.  
  
"Not bad," Carol said to him as she pushed out from under the debris, "but I can't let you win." She picked up a chunk of brick and hurled it at Remy with all her strength.  
  
In the blink of an eye, Remy's adamantium bo staff was in his hands. Piiing. He deflected the projectile away. "The feeling's mutual," he shot back.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Wait, did you hear that?" Rogue asked.  
  
"Nope." Freddy shook his massive head.  
  
When another thud sounded, everyone turned around.  
  
"I'm detecting a mutant signature over that way." Pietro mentioned, pushing some buttons on the mutant detecting device he held. Thy had lost valuable time in having to go back and get it but it looked like they just might succeed yet.  
  
"Good." Rogue turned to the group. "Get ready guys," she said. "I think we may have found Remy LeBeau."  
  
  
  
  
  
Carol narrowed her eyes. "Nice moves, but if that's your best, I suggest you give up."  
  
"You want my best? OK. Fine." Remy reachd into his duster and pulled out three playing card. The cards began to glow as he made them kinetically volatile and unstable. In one fluid motion, Remy hurled the cards with inhuman accuracy, each of them striking Carol.  
  
BOOM Smoke billowed up after a flash of light from the explosions. Remy couldn't see Carol through the thick smoke.  
  
"Better, but still not good enough." The smoke began to dissipate and Remy could make out Carol's figure.  
  
"St. Marie," he whispered. Although Carol was significantly bruised and her clothes were tattered, but she was still standing.  
  
"So what was that you threw at me? Grenades? Fireworks? Nah, had to be stronger than fireworks cuz I tell ya it packed one heckuva punch."  
  
"Playing cards. Those were playing cards."  
  
Both Remy and Carol whirled around to see Rogue standing in the far right of the vacant alley with the Acolytes behind her.  
  
"Hi Remy," Pietro called out. "Long time no see."  
  
Remy pulled out another couple of playing cards.  
  
"Hey hey, no need to get edgy amigo," Pietro said, spreading his hands apart peacefully. "Raven just wants the Eye back. Comprende?"  
  
"Who are they?" Carol asked Remy.  
  
"Old friends." Remy turned to Rogue "Who's she?" he asked, not recognizing Rogue. Funny, she didn't look like the type to be hanging with the Brotherhood.  
  
"You can call me Rogue." She stepped forwards, flexing the fingers of each hand. She couldn't help but think that he looked cuter in person than on a photograph, even though they were on opposing sides. "Now how about giving us the diamond you stole from us."  
  
"I stole? From you?" Remy doubled over in laughter. "Gimme a break."  
  
Rogue sighed. "Get him,' she said to the Acolytes.  
  
"No need," Carol spoke up. She reached into her pocket and held up the eye- shaped diamond. "I have it."  
  
  
  
A/N Many apologies to those of you who wanted a love at first sight thing between Rogue and Remy but I had to keep it real. More of that in later chapters. REVIEW!! 


	7. Chapter 7

"You have it?" Pietro asked incredulously.  
  
"Yep." Carol grinned coolly at him. She smiled at his obvious anger. He was practically seething. "Try and take it. C'mon, you know you want to."  
"Logan! Cassidy! In my office ASAP!" Director Malloy bellowed from the door of his massive office.  
  
Logan dropped the research papers he'd recently been faxed from one of his contacts. He turned to Sean.  
  
"Ay, don't look at me."  
  
When Logan and Sean entered the spacious office, Malloy gestured for them to sit down.  
  
"Yeah?" Logan asked.  
  
Malloy sighed. "Cassidy, Logan, what are you doing?"  
  
"Listenin' to ye' talkin'" Sean cracked.  
  
"Not funny. Gentlemen, there are hundreds of ways that you could be usefully working but instead, you're researching diamonds."  
  
"Sir, we're investigating the radiation case," Logan said.  
  
"Why? That's not even Weapon X's department!"  
  
"We have lots o' information sir. This is very important and we may know what's causin' the breakout."  
  
"Yeah," Logan piped up. "Check the TV. The mysterious radiation breakout is on every major news station. We have leads."  
  
"So do the experts," Malloy countered, "the people who know what they're doing. Now if you two can't find something to do I suggest you help out Casey with his espionage case."  
  
"But sir-"  
  
"No buts gentlemen. Leave the radiation case to the people who are equipped to handle it. Dismissed!"  
  
"No way I'm working that stupid espo case," Logan muttered as he and Sean left the office."  
  
"I agre with ye'," Sean replied. He sighed. Now what?"  
  
Logan was about to respond when his acute hearing picked up the words Eye of Death. He whirled around.  
  
"What is it Logan?" Sean asked his partner.  
  
"Logan turned till he saw Andrea Spencer talking to someone he didn't recognize. Andrea Spencer was a new agent with Weapon X. She was stuck up, rude, and snobbish, especially to Logan. On the flip side though, Andrea was a good fighter, didn't crack under pressure, and was drop dead gorgeous.  
  
"Did you just say 'Eye of Death?" Logan asked.  
  
She pretended not to hear him.  
  
"Andrea." Logan said much louder. She turned around. "What? Can't you see I'm busy?"  
  
"I need to know if you said Eye of Death." The man Andrea was talking to looked over at the pair with a look of annoyance on his face.  
  
"Maybe, maybe not. What's it to you?"  
  
"A case I'm working on. This Eye of Death thing seems to pop up a lot." Technically, that was a lie since Malloy had just kicked them off the case but hey, she didn't need to know that.  
  
She eyed him very carefully. "This is Miguel," she said, pointing to the man she'd been talking to. "He's one of our informants. Usually we use him for drug busts but it looks like he stumbled onto a gang war.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Habia muchos explosiones. Habia una pelea. Alguien dijo, 'Eye of Death.' Eso es todo que se.'" There were many explosions. There was a fight. Someone said, 'Eye of Death. That's all I know Miguel blurted out in Spanish.  
  
Logan paused for a moment.  
  
"Need a translation?" Andrea asked.  
  
"No." Logan turned to Miguel. "Donde estaba esto? Cuando acontecio?"where was this? When did it happen?  
  
"Yo lo mostrare."I will show you Miguel answered.  
  
"Hey, wait a minute," Andrea cut in. "You can't just whisk my informant off on a wild goose chase!"  
  
"This is really important," Logan countered. "I promise We'll be right back."  
  
"You will owe me so big," Andrea said at last.  
  
"Gotcha."  
  
"I mean," she continued, "you will be totally in my debt." She emphasized the word totally.  
  
"Totally in your debt," Logan concurred, already heading towards the door with Miguel and Sean in tow.  
  
"When Malloy finds out about this," Sean began.  
  
"He'll have no choice but to congratulate us for solving the case," Logan finished. He opened the door to his Mercedes sliding in the drivers' seat. "OK Miguel, show me where you saw it."  
Pietro narrowed his eyes. He turned to Rogue and she gave an imperceptible nod. Whoosh. He zoomed a Carol, hoping to put her out real quick. Unfortunately, that's where things went horribly wrong.  
  
He threw a lightning fast punch at her, but when he connected it was like hitting a stone wall. It was the bones in his own fist that cracked, and she didn't move an inch.  
  
WHAM Her punch was a lot more effective. It sent him flying through the air like a rag doll.  
  
Rogue frowned when Pietro landed at her feet, obviously unconscious. From the moment when she'd first seen Carol fighting Remy, she'd suspected the lady was powerful. Now she knew.  
  
Todd didn't seem to have realized this though. He leaped right at Carol, hoping to catch her off guard. He spat a glob of goo at her but she dodged it. When he landed, he shot his tongue out at her.  
  
Carol hadn't been prepared for what came flying out of Todd's mouth either time, not that that stopped her from reacting. Her hand came flying up, catching the animated tongue just an inch from her face. I felt like she was holding a wet worm or something. She whirled around, smashing Todd into a brick wall by his tongue.  
  
"Pathetic," she said.  
  
"Freeze!" Everyone whirled around to see two men standing side by side, both armed. It took about three seconds for all hell to break loose.  
  
Lance sent a miniature earthquake right at the two, Remy tackled Carol, and Rogue attacked Remy.  
  
"Oooomph," Remy winced when Rogue hit him, knocking him off of Carol. He kicked up, sending her flying off of him. Remy immediately swiveled around, knocking Carol off her feet with a sweep kick.  
  
Sean and Logan instinctively leaped to the side, the artificial shockwave barely missing him.  
  
Bambambam. All of the sudden, bullets tore at the ground at the two agents' feet. Sean screamed, his mutant power creating a sonic barrier that the bullets bounced off of around Logan and himself.  
  
"They've got snipers up there," Logan yelled. "I'm gonna go take 'em out."  
  
Logan leaped out of the force field and out into the open.  
A/N Sorry about it taking so long to update but I had computer problems. I know this chappy's kinda short but I have to focus back on my other stories. As always, review. Oh yeah, sorry if my translations are messed up, sorry. I got them from a translator site. 


	8. Chapter 8

In one swift, fluid motion, Remy reached into Carol's pocket and withdrew the Eye of Death, dodging to the side to avoid a vicious kick.  
  
A soft crunching sound behind him alerted him to Rogue's sneak attack. He simply knelt down and Rogue went tumbling right over him, landing on the ground in a heap. She flipped back onto her feet and thrust her hand at his face as if she were trying to smother him with her hand or something. At the last second he grabbed her hand, stopping it an inch from his face. It was a simple matter then to employ basic judo technique and send her sprawling right back to the ground.  
  
Had it been any other member of the Brotherhood, he would have used substantial, if not lethal force but there was a.vulnerability about her that restrained him. After one final glance, he ran, the diamond in his possession, right into Freddy.  
  
Rogue stood groggily shaking her head to clear it. Since she didn't know that Remy had the Eye, she assumed it was in Carol's possession and attacked.  
  
***  
  
Logan felt a bullet tear through his shoulder, then another through his right side, neither one slowed him down in the least. With one last gargantuan stride, he burst through the door of the vacant building where the snipers were. In all likelihood, they had been placed there by Raven as a contingency to fall back on; not that he cared. They'd shot at him and they would pay.  
  
Someone in a ski mask leaped in the way, an Uzi in his hands. Logan didn't bother to dodge or anything, he simply ran straight into the guy, his adamantium reinforced skeleton knocking him out instantly. Two more men came from the adjoining room with AK-47s, firing wildly. Two bullets managed to hit Logan, and had he been a normal person, he would have been dead. But Logan was not normal, not by a long shot. The wounds didn't even slow him down.  
  
Logan pulled out his Desert Eagle and fired twice, the huge handgun recoiling violently. The two attackers went flying into the wall.  
  
Logan could hear the frantic running of the people on the second floor who were now aware that something was very wrong. They were trapped and by now they had to have realized that they were dealing with someone they weren't equipped to handle.  
  
First one rifle, then another went clattering down the stairs, followed by two men with their hands up.  
  
"We-we surrender," the first man said.  
  
Logan smiled, "Good." Too fast for them to react, he rushed forward and punched them both hard enough to knock them out. They were one thing he didn't need to deal with right now.  
  
***  
Freddy enveloped Remy in a bear hug, attempting to squeeze the breath right out of him.  
  
Remy wriggled his arms around in the little room he had until his hand hit Freddy's belt buckle. He used his mutant power to render the moleculed of the buckle volatile.  
  
"Let me go," he gasped, "because once my hand leaves your buckle or whatever, it goes boom. It blows up, and I'm sure you can imagine the pain you will experience when your buckle explodes liked a stick of dynamite." Remy tried to appear in control but he couldn't breathe and he would black out soon if nothing happened.  
  
Freddy didn't like it, but even as dumb as he was he could imagine what would happen if he didn't let go, so he dropped Remy who in turn, renewed the molecules' stability.  
  
"Thanks, mon ami," Rem said. He twirled his bo staff and jammed it right into Freddy's neck, hitting his carotid artery and rendering him unconscious. Freddy's face registered a look of surprise as he dropped to the ground.  
  
***  
  
Carol blocked Rogue's side kick and punched Rogue in the stomach dropping her to her knees. She spun around and kicked Rogue savagely in the face, sending her rebounding off the ground.  
  
Carol knelt down and glared down at Rogue. "There is nothing you can do to stop me," she said simply. "So if I were you, I'd just leave."  
  
Rogue reached her hand up feebly, evoking a laugh from Carol. "What? Are you gonna hit me? You think you can hurt me?"  
  
In answer, Rogue touched her index finger to her Carol's forehead."  
  
"Is that supposed to hurt?" Carol asked.  
  
Rogue chuckled through bleeding lips. "Yeah."  
  
Carol looked like she was about to say something but then froze, just beginning to realize that something was wrong. She couldn't move. Her limbs wouldn't respond and she felt as if her strength were being drained out of her. The last thing she saw was Rogue's battered face grinning up at her.  
  
Rogue rolled out from underneath Carol's limp form and stood to her feet, the stolen energy already beginning to renew her.  
  
She saw Freddy fall to the ground and Remy start to run from the fray. Her eyes narrowed. Remy was heading out of the alley, and for some reason, she felt she had to stop him.  
  
Then the memories that Rogue had taken from Carol hit. Remy had taken the Eye, she realized.  
  
Shaking her head to clear it, she ran after him.  
  
Remy turned right at breakneck speed and ran out into the middle of the street. A car narrowly missed him, whizzing behind him and he had to do a log roll to avoid being hit by a truck. He finally reached the island in the middle of the street and paused, looking behind him to see if anyone had followed him.  
  
Rogue had. She followed him going right into the busy street. She dodged the first car that came at her but just a few seconds later, a bus hit her head on, sending her flying off to the side.  
  
Immediately, the bus skidded to a halt and other cars started honking, thinking that Rogue was dead.  
  
She was not. She got to her feet, and ran after Remy, ignoring the gasps of the bystanders. It was a good thing she'd recently acquired invulnerability because without it, she'd be splattered all over the street like so much roadkill.  
  
Remy leaped off the island and right into the adjacent street, stopping and going to avoid cars. He could hear sirens in the distance as well as the constant beat of Rogue's footsteps behind him. Didn't she ever give up?"  
  
He turned into an alley and then darted into another one at top speed. Surely she couldn't have followed him this far.  
  
A blow from behind hit him, sending him sprawling to the ground. 


	9. Chapter 9

Remy barely got his hand in front of his face in time to keep from smashing his head on the ground. He used the extra momentum to execute a flip that distanced himself from Rogue.  
  
Rogue put her hands up in the fighting stance that Raven had taught her. This Remy person was a good fighter, better than Rogue as far as talent went but Rogue was near invulnerable and multiple times stronger. She kicked out, a feint that Remy didn't react to react to save for a slight movement in his hand. The next thing Rogue knew, four cards, all with macabre skeletons on them, appeared in his hand.  
  
"You plan on gamblin'?" she asked sarcastically.  
  
"Dese look like playin' cards to you?" Remy countered. Too late, Rogue remembered what those Remy could do with those cards.  
  
WHAM! Her world went hazy for a moment as one of the cards hit her right in the face, sending her head snapping back. Another card collided with her abdomen, doubling Rogue over while three and four exploded on the very ground she was standing on, hurling Rogue about five meters away. As Gambit had expected, she got up, even though anyone else would have to be scooped up in lots of tiny little pieces after a barrage like that.  
  
"You can't hurt me," Rogue said. "Just give me back the diamond you stole."  
  
"What?"  
  
Rogue's eyes narrowed into slits. "I don't have time to play games Mr. LeBeau. So how about you just return it before I have to take it, and your arm, away by force." Inside, Rogue laughed. That had sounded pretty cool, pretty menacing.  
  
"Well you know what," said Remy, "I didn't steal this."  
  
"Yes you did."  
  
"No, I did not."  
  
Rogue paused before hurling another 'Yes you did' back at him. He looked sicere, and if he was lying, Rogue certainly couldn't tell.  
  
Remy smiled. It looked like he was getting through to her. He pulled the Eye out of his pocket and showed it to her. "This gem right here," he said, "is for some reason deadly to normal humans. All it takes is a close proximity to kill most people of a radiation-like sickness. Raven never owned this, but she's wanted to. She hates humans, she'll barely tolerate those that serve in low positions in her criminal organization. Can you imagine what she would do if she got her hands on something that kills all homosapiens?"  
  
"What do you mean when you say 'criminal organization?" Rogue asked warily.  
  
"I mean that the sleazebag you're working for is a crook. Shoot, she's wanted in like ten different countries." Remy pulled out a photo from his duster and approached Rogue, who surprisingly didn't step back. He held the photo up.  
  
Rogue snickered. "Who is that supposed to be?" The grainy black and white photograph showed a middle aged walking down a sidewalk amongst a large group of people. It looked as if she didn't know she was being photographed.  
  
"That is not Raven," Rogue stated matter-of-factly. She was slightly confused as to what he was getting at.  
  
"Yes, that is her," Remy corrected. "Look closely.'  
  
Rogue frowned and squinted her eyes. The woman bore absolutely no resemblance to Raven. She had a different build, different height, different-. In mid-thought Rogue saw it. "Mah God," she gasped, so surprised that she allowed her strong southern accent to show. The woman was wearing the scarab necklace. Raven wore the same item all the time and had even told her it was very rare.  
  
"You see?" asked Remy.  
  
"Well yah, but it doesn't prove anything. There could be a hundred different people who wear that necklace."  
  
"There are, but only Raven has hers custom made like that. If you will notice, the pincers on the gold scarab are unusually long and there is an extra abdomen on the ornament. There isn't another like it in the world. You see, that is actually a surprise weapon. The extra abdomen you see there holds a deadly poison called Siron which can be injected through the pincers."  
  
"How do you know all this?" asked Rogue.  
  
"We know everything about the Brotherhood, and vice versa of course."  
  
Rogue knew that was true as she recalled how Raven had seemed to know an awful lot about Remy. She could not begin to understand the complexities of the everlasting conflict between the two factions.  
  
It seemed crazy. Unbelievable. But for some reason that Rogue could not comprehend, she believed. Maybe it was that it all made sense. The little trips Raven and the Acolytes had made at times among other unanswered questions made sense now.  
  
There was one way to find out though. With a grim face, Rogue reached up and touched her hand to Remy's forehead. His eerie red-on-black eyes narrowed. And then came the shock.  
  
Remy felt like he'd been run over by a Mac truck, the sensation slamming into him like a tidal wave. He reeled back and then dropped to his knees, gasping for breath as a million different thoughts sprang up in his mind.  
  
Rogue felt like a child who had stuck a metal fork into an electrical outlet. Her eyes began to burn but then all of the sudden, she could see clearer, even though it was dark. Every little bit of light or heat seemed to be magnified.  
  
Then came the memories. She saw a man middle aged man in a brown jacket, a beautiful blonde in a purple bodysuit with a large, wicked looking sword on her back. And then Raven. But she was doing something. In this memory, she was looking straight at Remy so Rogue could see the metamorph's eyes in her mind's eye. They were glowing yellow. And then her skin turned blue, her hair turned a deep crimson. Those eyes though, there was something evil in them that made Rogue shudder. Then all the images ceased to appear.  
  
Rogue took a deep breath, putting a hand to her chest. She had never experienced such wild sensations upon physical contact with anyone else, human or otherwise.  
  
"What the-" Remy muttered weakly. He lifted his head to find Rogue looking down at him. He wobblingly stood to his feet, looking as if he were half unconscious. The only think he could think of was that it was her mutant power, making people feel so crappy they wondered if they'd been dropped of the Sears tower, and then tossed into a giant blender. He felt so out of it that he barely heard Rogue say, 'I believe you.' He tried to process that.  
  
"I said, I believe you," repeated Rogue. She had 'seen' enough, and it made sense.  
  
"Oh, well that's-that's good." Remy walked over to the side of a building and leaned on it. "So you blindside me with whatever the heck mutant power that is but you believe me. Yeah, that makes sense."  
  
Rogue rolled her eyes and turned away as she pondered what to do next. Without Raven, she was right back where she'd started. Then again, she would no longer be trapped in the middle of the deadly war that seemed to be brewing over the Eye of Death.  
  
She turned around and gave a wry smile. "You know what, keep the bloody diamond. I don't care anymore."  
  
Remy blinked. "Uh-"  
  
He didn't get the chance to say more because he stopped when he heard two pairs of footsteps approaching. His light sensitive eyes made out that they were the two men from back at the alley.  
  
Logan and Sean approached, casting long shadows down the pavement. Wordlessly, Logan flipped out a small yet powerful flashlight and shone it ahead. He had lots of questions and he figured that the folks ahead could answer him. They both looked pretty messed up. The girl, her skunk-striped hair was a mess and her face had a lot of bruises and smudges on it, without which she probably would have looked quite appealing. The guy looked as if he'd come out of the short end of a fight with Bruce lee. There was blood running from the corner of his mouth and his movement seemed sluggish.  
  
"Hello guys," Remy said genially even though the very act of moving his mouth was difficult because of what Rogue had done to him.  
  
"Hello yourself," Sean replied. "would ye mind telling us what this is all about?"  
  
"What?" The question came from Rogue.  
  
Logan and Sean exchanged a small glance. "The Eye of Death. Have you-" Logan stopped talking in mid sentence when his acute hearing picked up on the thwop thwop thwop sound of the backup helos he'd requested. "Bad timing," he muttered. The last thing he needed was to spook off these guys.  
  
Too late. Remy's head swiveled up and his fiery eyes widened when he made out the approaching helicopters. Rogue too looked up and by then the sound of the swinging blades could be heard.  
  
"Wait," Logan called. But Remy darted down a side alley anyway and after a moment's hesitation, so did Rogue.  
  
Sean muttered something after his breath. It was an Irish word but Logan had a pretty good idea what it meant and right then he probably would have agreed.  
  
***  
  
Remy whirled around. "What are you doing following me?" he asked rather unkindly.  
  
"Like I have a choice," Rogue retorted. "I can't go back to Raven now, not in good conscious anyway."  
  
"Listen little girl, I don't have time to babysit a mutant kid who just a while ago was throwing punches at me, OK. Why don't you just go along and do whatever it was you did before Raven suckered you into the Brotherhood." Rogue ignored his placing her in the 'little kid' category and shot back, "Before I was 'suckered' into the Brotherhood, I was a homeless pickpocket who pinched wallets and watches for a living. Not that you know what that's like."  
  
There was a pause before Remy said, "You'd be surprised.  
  
His cell phone rang and he wordlessly took it out of his pocket. "Hey."  
  
"Hey yourself Remy," Jean-Marc said on the other end. "Do you have the diamond?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Great!" Jean Marc exulted. "I'm tryin' t' sneak a helicopter out dere t' pick you up."  
  
"Would it have arrived already?" Remy asked, wondering if the helicopter he'd seen had in fact not been a government craft.  
  
"Uh uh. Ororo's piloting an' she's not that experienced wit' usin' a machine t' take her place. She's used to summoning winds an' all dat' t' fly."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Yeah. Don't worry about findin' her, she'll find you."  
  
"Good. Hey Jean-Marc, listen. There might be a second passenger."  
  
"Who?" came the immediate question.  
  
"A mutant who goes by the name of Rogue."  
  
"What's he do?"  
  
"It's a she. And other than pretty doggone near knocking you out by touching you, I don't know what she does."  
  
Jean-Marc considered asking for details, but if he kne Remy, there was a reason he was taking this "Rogue" person along. "OK, I'll let 'Ro know that. Bye."  
  
"Bye." Remy flipped the small cellular phone shut and neatly slid it back into his pocket.  
  
"What was that?" Rogue asked. Remy supposed he could have pretende like he didn't know what she was talking about but didn't for some reason.  
  
"You are a self-proclaimed ex-acolyte," he explained. There's no telling what kind of valuable intelligence you could give the Guild."  
  
"But you are taking me with you."  
  
"You've got it."  
  
"You trust me enough to take me back to your little base or whatever."  
  
"Its hardly a base, but yeah." Remy gave a crooked little smile at the way Rogue looked at him. She seemed to think he was out of his mind. Actually, he probably was, he reflected.  
  
***  
  
"We've lost her," Raven said to herself as she clicked the off button and the handheld receiver she carried. Unknown to Rogue, there was a tiny little receiver on her bodysuit that not only traced her movements but picked up on anything she said and most that was said to her-it was a little security measure.  
  
Raven had heard enough. It wasn't like she'd been caught totally by surprise. She'd known that Rogue's loyalties weren't certain. She just wished that Rogue had made the smart choice.  
  
Raven picked up the telephone and dialed, waiting for three rings before it was picked up on the other end.  
  
"Mother." The greeting held a trace of a German accent, although one could barely tell. Kurt Wagner said the title with little respect, even a trace of sarcasm.  
  
"Glad you could recognize me," said Raven.  
  
"I must admit, I'm at a loss as to why you would be contacting me."  
  
"I have an assignment for you," Raven clarified.  
  
Kurt laughed. "Oooh, this is interesting. You have need an assassin when I'm sure there are tons at your disposable."  
  
"This is no regular task. I'm not even sure if you can pull it off."  
  
"Is that supposed to bait me?"  
  
"Not really." Raven paused. "I want you to take out Remy LeBeau."  
  
"You are joking with me, right?"  
  
"No. He has been a thorn in our respective sides for years, and I'm sure the Assasins Guild would especially yearn to kill him. Thing is, Mr. LeBeau has just deprived me of one of my best acolytes. It made me realize that it was past time I took care of him. Of course, I have no one under my command who could undertake such a task but then I thought of you."  
  
"We of the Assasins Guild would have no qualms about killing a Thieves Guilder, but I'd of course have to be well compensated."  
  
"How does 3 sound?"  
  
"Million?"  
  
"Billion."  
  
"Now we are, how do you say, talking. Yes that's it." Mystique could just imagine Kurt stroking his chin in thought. "I might even take Belladonna with me. She has a bit of a personal dislike for Remy."  
  
"Yes, I would imagine. The money will be wired to you shortly. Half now, half upon completion."  
  
"Excellent."  
  
A/n Gosh, I'm sorry for not updating but I've been kinda busy with school and all. Hope you like and as always, reviews and comments and suggestions are welcome.  
  
Pleasant day,  
  
Godfather. 


	10. Chapter 10

"That's her," Remy said as the dark silhouette of a helicopter  
appeared. It began to jerkily descend and Rogue half wondered if the  
pilot knew how to fly.  
  
When the craft landed, Remy opened the door for Rogue, who stepped in,  
ducking her head to keep from hitting it on the ceiling. She sat down  
on the floor and Remy crouched down beside her.  
  
"Why aren't there any chairs?" Rogue asked.  
  
"To conserve room," Remy said.  
  
"For what?"  
  
"Weapons and stuff," the pilot blurted out, answering for Remy. She  
turned around and when Rogue saw her, her eyes widened.  
  
"You're-you're." She stuttered.  
  
"A kid?"  
  
"Mmm hmm."  
  
"Ororo Munroe grinned as she turned around. She was a medium height  
kid who looked to be a couple of years younger than Remy. She was  
extremely beautiful, if not exotic looking with dark brown skin, Long,  
white and silver hair pulled back into a ponytail, and incredibly  
innocent blue eyes, an unusual combination of features to say the  
least. "So?" she asked innocently. "What's wrong with teenager flying  
a chopper?"  
  
Rogue whirled to face Remy instead of responding. "You have a KID  
piloting us?"  
  
"She's not too bad for a sixteen year old," Remy said. "Thing is,  
she's got lots of other abilities that we might need."  
  
"Why?"  
  
No sooner had the words left Rogue's mouth than bullets began to ping  
on the side of the chopper.  
  
"Folks," we're liftin off," Ororo declared gleefully. "It looks like  
we won't be able to stay for the party." The helo began to rise into  
the air as Brotherhood gunmen from down below fired their AK-47's in  
vain at them.  
  
Remy leaned forward, " 'Stormie, you might want to hurry it up. One of  
'em at least is probably packin' a rocket launcher, knowing Raven,  
maybe even a Stinger."  
  
"Gotcha Remy-man. And don't call me that." Ororo's smile disappeared  
and her eyes went white while outside, dark clouds began to form over  
the firing pursuers down below and a fog encompassed the immediate  
area, making visibility near zero. Of course Ororo, or as her fellow  
Thieves Guilder's called her, Storm, had a natural attunement with  
nature itself, so she could sense her surroundings somewhat and  
successfully navigate through the fog. As a farewell goodie, she made  
a mini-monsoon that drenched the Brotherhood thugs on the ground.  
  
"Oh great," Rogue muttered, "a storm. Please tell me she can handle  
storms."  
  
"You don't have to talk about me like I'm not here," Ororo remarked  
flippantly. She was back to normal now, her regular eyes and  
infectious smile having returned.  
  
"OK then. Do you know how to handle crappy weather?"  
  
"Yeah. I've been doing good enough so far, haven't I?"  
  
No answer. Rogue merely leaned her head back, wondering just what kind  
of organization this Thieves Guild was.  
  
***  
  
Kurt Wagner took down his two rapiers that hung on the wall of his  
study. They were his preferred method of assassination. While Kurt was  
proficient in the use of long range sniper tactics and weapons, he  
never found it appealing. It took a little of the thrill out of it  
when all you did was pick off an unaware target from long range. The  
challenge was getting close enough to assassinate with the swords. It  
took skill in many cases, much more skill than your average assassin  
had. Once, Kurt had been hired to kill a politician in some poor  
European country whose name he couldn't remember. Apparently, the guy  
had ruffled a few criminal feathers with his talk about ridding the  
streets of crime and drugs. Kurt had penetrated the clever outer  
defense system that the politician had set up around his home, evaded  
many of the guards, who couldn't even see him in the darkness, and  
teleported right into the politicians bedroom, decapitating both the  
politician and his beautiful wife in a single, deadly stroke. Had he  
used the conventional tactics, he would have been able to kill the guy  
no sweat. Simply set up a position that provided a direct angle to the  
target's bedroom window, wait till he passed within the crosshairs,  
and pull the trigger from the safety of half a mile off.  
  
The thing was, Kurt didn't see much challenge or excitement in that  
and aside from the money, those were the two reasons he was an  
assassin in the first place.  
  
His mother had called, something that was unusual for her. And she  
wanted Kurt to kill one of the meddlesome Thieves Guilder's. It was  
going to be hard to care of this one though, Kurt reflected. Remy  
LeBeau was almost like a legend. Assassination attempts on his life  
had been numerous times in the past, but the wily thief had always  
managed to escape. Kurt himself, although a member of the Assassins  
Guild, did not share the same core hatred for Remy that most Assassins  
of the Guild had because he simply hadn't run into the wily thief all  
that often. No matter, the lack of hatred as an incentive was more  
than compensated for by the money.  
  
3 BILLION big ones. That had to be his biggest payoff. It also was an  
indication of just how difficult his job would be, how much Kurt would  
have to rise to the challenge.  
  
He hefted the two swords, enjoying the comfortable weight they had and  
the ease with which he could maneuver them. He practiced a set of  
sword drills briefly, and then did a couple of teleports, porting  
outside the five story window and porting right back before he began  
to fall. It was an invaluable mutant asset, being able to teleport.  
  
Unfortunately, there were other mutant 'assets' he had that weren't  
quite so valuable. Kurt looked like a demon. A child's worst  
nightmare. His skin was a dark shade of blue, with a thin layer of  
equally blue fur sheathing it. His eyes lacked pupils and glowed an  
unnatural white. His ears were elongated back, resembling those of an  
elf somewhat. Each hand consisted of one opposable 'thumb' and two  
strong fingers were there would normally be four. His feet likewise  
consisted of a thumb like appendage and two powerful opposable toes.  
  
The last thing was his tail. It was forked, just like one would  
imagine the devil's to be and prehensile, like a monkey's. He could  
use it like another arm and grasp things with it. He could even anchor  
it on a beam or something and suspend himself from it.  
  
The blue skin and eyes he had gotten from his mother, Raven. The rest  
were unique to his particular mutation. While Kurt did not possess  
Raven's ability to morph into a form that looked normal, he did happen  
to have the next best thing, a little device aptly named the image  
inducer. Basically, it gave him a holographic disguise that looked  
normal.  
  
His door swung open suddenly, causing his fur to bristle and his head  
to turn. In the doorway stood a beautiful, twenty-ish young woman, her  
features grim and serious. She wore a form fitting purple bodysuit and  
had a large sword strapped to her back. Gleaming blond hair hung from  
an ponytail, swishing against her back as she walked towards him.  
  
"Belladonna," he began genially. "I'm glad you could meet me."  
  
"If what you say is true, then the feeling is mutual," she said.  
  
"It is. Oh, it is alright. Apparently, our friend Remy LeBeau has  
managed to earn the wrath of Raven Darkholmme, and she is willing to  
pay quite handsomely to the fellow who can engineer his demise.  
  
"3 billion dollars was the figure I heard. Is that true?"  
  
"Yes. Naturally, you will receive half upon completion-"  
  
"I don't want the money." She cut in. "Remy killed my brother and  
disgrace me and my family. Seeing him dead will be enough reward." She  
paused for a moment before turning a critical eye upon him. "Why, by  
the way, did you let me in on this? You could have simply done it  
yourself without having to worry about the added complications of a  
partner."  
  
Kurt smiled clasping his hands behind his back. 'True," he  
acknowledged. I could have done so but my chances of success are  
increased with a partner. From what I've heard, Remy LeBeau is a very  
elusive man. Probably why he's stayed alive all these years. With my  
skills, your skills, and your hatred of him, we've got a better chance  
of pulling it off."  
  
"Sound reasoning," Belladonna commented. "Do you have any idea where  
he is?"  
  
"Last I heard, he got a helo ride out of here, probably out of New  
York."  
  
"Tracking him will be next to impossible."  
  
"Tracking? My dear Belladonna we have no need of that. I think that we  
both know where Mr. LeBeau will go."  
  
After a few seconds, understanding dawned on Belladonna's face. "New  
Orleans."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Its stupid. That's his home turf. That's where the Thieves Guild is  
headquartered. They have God knows how many eyes and ears lurking  
about the place. We'd be slaughtered upon arrival.  
  
"The image inducers I have can help with that," Kurt said. True, we'd  
be fighting him on his 'home turf' but that's what makes it  
challenging. You can't expect a walk in the park job for 3 billion  
dollars after all. Besides, There will be backup should things go  
wrong."  
  
"What kind of backup?"  
  
"You'll see.  
  
***  
  
Remy reached over and jostled Rogue awake as they neared their  
destination. She had fallen asleep on his shoulder about halfway  
through the trip, which he wouldn't have minded had Ororo not been  
tossing speculative glances back at the couple  
  
"Wha-wha," Rogue muttered, furiously blinking her eyes. She looked  
over at Remy, and her eyes went wide. She had been close to him. Too  
close. She recoiled almost pushing him away in her effort to create  
distance between the two of them. She said nothing, and while her face  
was red, Remy didn't think it was entirely because of embarrassment.  
  
"Were almost there," he said cheerily, trying to defuse the awkward  
situation.  
  
"Almost where?"  
  
Thieves Guild Headquarters," he said. "You'll like it."  
  
"How would you know?"  
  
"Everyone else does."  
  
"Who's everyone else?"  
  
Remy paused. "When we land," he said, "I'll introduce you."  
  
A/n sorry about the delay, but ff.n's been screwy. It wouldn't let me upload for a while 


	11. Chapter 11

"Ah, Remy. Le long temps aucun voient."  
  
"Jean Marc, good t' see you again, mon ami," Remy greeted back. He gave his old friend a hug and then stepped back. "Jean-Marc, 'dis is Rogue."  
  
"Remy, you did not tell me, 'dat 'dis Rogue was so lovely. " He turned fully to Rogue. "Greetings Rogue, and welcome to New Orleans."  
  
Rogue blushed slightly. "Thank you." She noted as Remy and Jean-Marc talked that Remy's voice and accent had taken on a Cajun twist now that he was with the Thieves Guild. He sounded quite a bit different.  
  
Ororo finally emerged from the helicopter, running her hands hastily through her hair. Instead of using the foldout steps, she simply jumped to the ground, something that would have injured any normal person who couldn't just summon a few gentle wind currents to help them float to the ground. She landed and walked over to Remy, Rogue and Jean-Marc. "You owe me big Remy," she said. "It isn't every day that I risk my neck to go halfway across the country and try to bail you and whatever ladyfriends you happen to have made out of Brotherhood territory."  
  
"An' don' worry Stormy, I don' take it for granted. I owe you one."  
  
Ororo grinned. She then turned to Rogue, her manner indicating that she was sizing her up. "So what's your story?" she asked. "And what the heck kinda name is Rogue?"  
  
Rogue looked down at Ororo, who was only an inch or two shorter than her. She didn't particularly like Ororo's turn, and considered none-too-nicely informing Ororo of that, but refrained. She'd just gotten here, and no matter how long she stayed, it wouldn't be smart to make enemies early. "I don't have a story. I'm just a homeless girl from New York who got caught up with Raven Darkholmme and the Brotherhood. As for my name, its just what everyone used to call me. Simple as that."  
  
Ororo raised an eyebrow, and then headed inside the large complex that was the Thieves Guild's HQ.  
  
Jean-Marc cleared his throat so as to get Rogue's attention. "While you arrival is a bit unexpected, we'll do 'de best we can t' accommodate you here in town, Remy can take care o' exactly where you gon' be stayin. What I want t' know is how much you 'member about 'de Brotherhood. Any information you got would be extremely valuable."  
  
"I imagine."  
  
A beeping sound suddenly began to emanate from somewhere on Jean-Marc's person. He frowned. And took his cell phone out of his pocket, flipping it open and putting it to his ear. Whatever the person on the other end was saying, it wasn't good, judging by how his demeanor changed.  
  
Remy, noticing this, asked, "What's de matter, homme?"  
  
With a click, Jean-Marc flipped the cellular phone shut and put it back in the pocket of his black trenchcoat. "Trouble. A helicopter wit' de Assassins Guild insignia just landed in a nearby field."  
  
"Did we catch who was in it?" Remy asked, his mind racing. What would the Assasins Guild be doing so deep in Thieves Guild territory, if they didn't have a death wish."  
  
"Several Thieves Guild operatives went to check it out. It exploded the instant they touched it, taking twelve of 'em out. No one was inside, although our guy who forced it to land in the first place swear there were two people in the cockpit prior to the landing. Don' make no damne' sense."  
  
Rogue looked back and forth between the two men, the worried looks on their faces making her feel less and less at ease. "Well, what does it mean?" she asked.  
  
Remy shrugged. "Could mean a lot o' 'dings, none of 'em good." He sighed. "I was goin' t' introduce you t' de newest members of de T'ieves Guild, but I'll have t' wait on 'dat. I need to go check on this." He turned his head to look at Jean-Marc. "Is my MV Karma fixed yet?" He was referring to the sleek new car that he'd had custom made. It had more special functions than a Swiss Army Knife, and was just as versatile.  
  
"Yep, she'd good as new. Just had the car moved into Garage C."  
  
"Good."  
  
***  
  
Logan had never thought he'd see the day when he needed, and especially ASKED for help from Andrea Spencer twice in the same week.  
  
Apparently, such a scenario had never occurred to Andrea either, because she seemed just as surprised by the fact that Logan had even come to her for help.  
  
"You want me to what?"  
  
Logan half considered just trying to find the only lead he had on this unsanctioned case of his by himself, but that would be nearly impossible. Andrea, like every other member of Weapon X, was a mutant. Her particular power was exactly what Logan needed in this situation. Coupled with the ability to fly on waves of extradimensional energy, she had 'homing' powers that allowed her to telepathically track anyone's whereabouts. Logan needed to find those kids from the alley, it was impossible to go anywhere else in the case otherwise. And like it or not, Andrea was his best bet in doing that. "I want you to see if you can track down these two kids, I think they know something about the Eye of Death."  
  
"Is that what this is about? You know, I should just report you for keeping on this ridiculous case, against orders at that."  
  
Logan was grateful that he had at least some leverage here. "But you won't, not unless you want everyone to know about you and uh, what was his name, Jason."  
  
Andrea, to her credit, didn't even flinch when Logan brought up that little tidbit of information that he should not have known. "That's over now," she said, "its been over."  
  
Logan shrugged. "Something tells me that it still wouldn't go over too well."  
  
He was right. Fraternization was not something encouraged in the least by Weapon X. Andrea's jaw clenched. She leaned back against the wall of her office. "How do you even know about me and Jason?"  
  
Logan tapped his nose with his index finger. With a nose like mine, I can sniff what you ate fer dinner last week. Jason's scent was all over ya, had to pretty much plug my nose not to smell that blasted cologne o' his when you walked in the room.  
  
Andrea went bright red from chin to hairline when Logan told her that. If he could d that, then what kind of secrets could she even hope to have? "So what, you're going to blackmail me into helping you?"  
  
Logan cleared his throat. "And I quote 'you know, I should just report you for keeping on this ridiculous case, against orders at that'." It was an almost disturbingly accurate imitation of Andrea's slight Afrikaans accent. "You tattle on me, I tattle on you, simple as that, it's a concept I'm sure you learned back at preschool. I ain't gonna blackmail you into doin' anything, but think about it. This isn't just me and you, it's a whole city that's come down with rad poisoning, and you're my best bet for findin' the only two leads I've got right now."  
  
Andrea's angry demeanor did not soften one iota. "I still can't help you, not unless I've actually seen the people I'm tracking."  
  
"You've got telepathic powers, right?"  
  
The door burst open right then, and one of the newer agents, a green-haired teenager, stuck her head through. "Ms. Andrea," she said, "The Director want to know if you've finished scanning the files he gave you." Lorna looked more than a little surprised to see Logan in Andrea's office.  
  
Andrea reached into an open desk drawer and pulled out a small disk. "Yeah, I finished it this morning. Think you could give this to him for me?"  
  
Lorna nodded, took the disk, and scurried off.  
  
Andrea turned back to Logan. "You were saying something?"  
  
"Yeah. Can't you just telepathically scan their images from my head or something to get a fix on their positions?" Logan had no idea of the intricacies or limits of telepathy, but it was worth a shot.  
  
Andrea chuckled. "You want to let me inside your head?" Logan was one of the only members of Weapon X who had mental defenses formidable enough to keep out unwanted telepathic probes. You only peeked around in his mind if he let you.  
  
"As much as it pains me, yeah."  
  
Andrea shrugged. "Okay then. Open wide."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I was talking about your mind."  
  
"Oh." Logan took a deep breath, and then complied, letting years and years worth of mental barriers and walls fade back. He knew he was gonna regret this, letting Andrea into his mind to have access to his deepest darkest secrets, but right now, he was concerned with finding that guy from the alley who'd been spooked off before Logan could have a decent chat.  
  
"I hink I know who you're talking about," Andrea said as she silently shifted through his recent memories."  
  
"Can you track him, or the girl?"  
  
"I can try." Andrea called upon the part of her power that allowed her to determine an exact location for anyone anywhere on the planet. She'd thought that this guy would be somewhere in New York, and was rather surprised that there was no trace of him in the immediate area. She stretched out her mutant senses further, trying to get a fix on this person Logan wanted to find. It took her a good five minutes to come up with a definite location. "Logan," she said, "I've found him. He and the girl are in New Orleans."  
  
"Huh. You sure about that? How would they get al the way t' Louisiana so fast?"  
  
The door burst open a second time, cutting off any response Andrea would have made. And once again, it was Lorna. "Ms. Spencer, The Director says you forgot to do some of these files. He wants you to take care of them ASAP."  
  
Andrea and Logan exchanged a glance. Logan shoved his hands into his pockets. "Well, I know his general location, I can find him from there. You can get back to your files." Logan was actually very happy to leave, he didn't want to stick around and risk finding out what exactly Andrea had learned while pawing through his thoughts and memories.  
  
He shut the door solidly on his way out.  
  
***  
  
"That was a freakin' waste of good hardware," Belladonna commented. She could still see the smoke rising up from the wrecked helicopter which had exploded thanks to a thermal bomb they'd activated right before Kurt teleported them a good three miles away. It had been difficult, especially given the fact that he had to take along a passenger, but he'd made it, although now he was quite exhausted.  
  
"But it was necessary," Kurt said. It masked our entrance into Thieves Guild territory, it was the perfect cover, not to mention the fact that we killed at least a dozen of those Guild agents."  
  
"Hmm, what now?" Belladonna asked.  
  
"Now, we find proper disguises." Kurt turned a dial on his watch/image- inducer and instantly, he was turned into a different person. The fur became an illusion of smooth skin, his eyes went a bright blue, his ears became normal shaped, the fangs disappeared, and the three digits on his hands gave the appearance of a thumb and four fingers. As loathe as she was to admit it, Belladonna thought he looked rather attractive with all the inhuman features stripped away.  
  
They were in a New Orleans hotel, a very low class one at that. It was dingy, and Belladonna had killed at least a dozen cockroaches that were scurrying around the floor. They'd combed the entire room for bugs or hidden cameras, and then shut the windows tight. Neither one wanted to fatally underestimate the Thieves Guild.  
  
"Don't suppose you've got a spare image-inducer for me," Belladonna commented wryly. She'd set hers on the floor during the helicopter ride, and had forgot to grab it when Kurt teleported them out of the soon-to-be helicopter wreck.  
  
"Nope, you'll have to do it the old fashioned way. There are tons of ways to disguise yourself though. You can cut your hair, dye it, affect a new accent, walk a little different, wear some discreet shades, change the outfit . . . If you do it right, no one'll recognize you. 'Cept mebbe Remy, but by the time he's close enough to see either one of us clearly, he's dead anyway."  
  
Belladonna nodded, then walked over to the window, and opened it a notch, so she could get a view of the city. It brought back a lot of memories from the past, memories of a time when she'd been innocent and carefree, a time that was long gone now.  
  
Kurt began to unpack their bags. "well don't you want to hear the plan?"  
  
"Sure, why not?" The beautiful assassin didn't bother to turn around.  
  
"Well, first, we find a better hotel."  
  
***  
  
"Quelle Honte." Remy muttered when he saw what lay in the wreckage of the helicopter. Dead bodies were sprawled all over the place, with ten times as many operatives combing the wreckage and surrounding area. "This doesn't make any sense." 


End file.
